Sunday, January 05, 2014

The Maps of the Week

It has been a couple of weeks since the last Google Maps Mania weekly round-up so this time around we have a special Google Maps of the Fortnight edition. You might also want to check out this round-up of the 200 Best Maps of 2013.

Mapping the Sea is a gorgeous interactive map of the Isle of Barra in the Outer Hebrides.

The map was created by artist Stephen Hurrel and social ecologist Ruth
Brennan. For the map local school pupils interviewed local fishermen and
older inhabitants of the island. The map explores the rich cultural
knowledge of the islanders, particularly in relation to the seas around
the island.

The map features a number of interactive markers that allow you to
explore photos of Barra and audio-clips that allow you to listen to the
tales of the islanders directly from the map.

Charles O. Paullin and John K. Wright's Atlas of the Historical
Geography of the United States was first published in 1932. The Atlas
contained nearly 700 maps covering a vast range of social, economic and
political aspects of life in the Untied States.

Most map fans will probably be familiar with at least some of the maps
featured in this comprehensive Atlas of life in America. For example
Paullin and Wright's maps of travel times, which show how long it
took to travel from New York to other locations throughout America at
various points in its history, are reproduced to this day.

The University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab has now released an
awesome online interactive showcase of the nearly 700 maps in the Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States.
All of the maps have been made interactive and overlaid on the modern
map of the United States (using Leaflet).
Not only can you view all the maps using the zooming and panning tolls
familiar to online map platforms but the University of Richmond has
added a number of interactive features that update these historical maps
for the digital age.

Kindred Britain
is a fascinating tool for exploring the connections between people. The
site shows the family connections between nearly 30,000 people (mainly
British and mainly dead ).

For example, you may already know about George Washington's role as
commander-in-chief during the American Revolutionary War, however did
you know he was leading the United States against his distant relative George III of the United Kingdom.

The maps on Kindred Britain are probably the least interesting aspect of
the site - but there are maps. The maps show where individuals in the
Network panel are from. Regions are highlighted on the map to show you
where all the individuals in the current visualization are from.